


Cat Food

by Eccentric_Exophiliac



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Eating Disorders, F/F, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:48:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28242666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eccentric_Exophiliac/pseuds/Eccentric_Exophiliac
Summary: A short one-shot about Adora helping Catra through an episode of disordered eating. Takes place around Season 5 Episode 6.TW for ED content! Please be safe!
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 76





	Cat Food

**Author's Note:**

> TW: This fanfic revolves around eating disorder content and has some suicidal ideation. If you think this may trigger you at all, do not read this. That said, if you still choose to read this and are struggling with an ED, please seriously consider recovery because you are worth it <3
> 
> This takes place around Season 5 Episode 6. If you don’t want spoilers and want to best understand the canon situation at this point in the story, then I suggest you get to there before continuing. 
> 
> Enjoy and please feel free to comment! This is my very first published fanfic, so constructive criticism is welcome but please be kind too! Thanks :)

Adora had never felt so helpless before. All she wanted was to have her best-friend back, but even now that they were together physically, the emotional distance between them was still interstellar. After rescuing Catra from Prime’s army, the newly-defected Horde soldier had spent nearly all of her time in her room, just coming out occasionally to use the only washracks on the ship. Any time Adora had come by to check up on her or offer her something to eat, she was met with Catra’s misdirected rage.  
  
“Come on, Catra,” Adora pleaded, sitting on the cold metal floor with her, “you have to eat something eventually. I’m not going to let you continue to waste away in here.” Glacier blue eyes peered into angry mismatched ones with a simultaneously stern and sympathetic gaze. The tray of rations sitting in front of the catgirl was still untouched from the past twenty minutes. “I hate it when you look at me like that...” Catra admitted, “I tried to end the world! I don’t deserve your concern and I certainly don’t deserve to eat!” Adora looked even more pained, if that was at all possible, upon hearing her say that.  
  
This was not the first time she had gone close to a week without more than a couple bites of food. It was common practice in the Horde to withhold rations from soldiers with unsatisfactory performance as punishment. Shadow Weaver would sometimes go as far as denying Catra meals for several days at a time. Thankfully, Adora managed to sneak her a ration bar or two every so often during these punitive periods when the dark sorceress wasn’t looking. Unfortunately, however, this radical disciplinary tactic had developed into a twisted association in Catra’s mind that she deserved to go hungry when she failed to live up to expectations.  
  
“Look, you and I both know that is not true. Yeah, you made some pretty terrible decisions, but you shouldn't starve because of it,” Adora said, placing a hand on her friend’s shoulder, “I choose to care about you and you can’t make that decision for me.” With the roll of a slightly-furred arm, the gentle gesture was shaken off. “It’s a dumb decision if you ask me,” Catra muttered, just loud enough to be audible.  
  
Adora got up with a sigh. “You make it really hard to be your ally, you know.” She headed to the doorframe and transformed into She-Ra and just stood there. “That’s why,” the buff princess continued, “I’m going to stand here until you eat enough. You need some tough love.” Catra scowled up at her. “Fine,” she spit the word like venom, “just be prepared to be there forever.” She-Ra smirked, “not forever. Just until you decide that you need to visit the only bathroom on the ship.” Catra groaned but still refused to give-in. “I’d rather use a litterbox than keep fueling this stupid body of mine. What good am I to you anyway?” The taller girl once again twisted her face into a hurt expression upon hearing her childhood companion say those words. The blonde walked back over to Catra, kneeled down and with a gentle voice responded, “hey, I know the Horde used to punish us with various forms of neglect, but you don’t have to hurt yourself like this.”  
  
Catra bristled a little at that. “Punish _us_ ?” she repeated incredulously, “I was the only one who ever got punished! You were Shadow Weaver’s golden child!” Adora slumped her shoulders, knitted her eyebrows together and said with a sad expression, “okay, maybe that was a poor choice of words then.” The magicat instantly regretted snapping at her when she saw her friend’s reaction; tucking her fuzzy knees up to her body and wrapping her tail around herself she apologized for her outburst and they stayed like that for another while.  
  
The somber silence was broken by the distinct rumbling noise of Catra’s empty stomach and Adora looked at her again with a pleading expression. “Why are you doing this?” she asked the felinesque girl sitting across from her quietly. Her fluffy tail started thumping the ground slightly and after making a sound somewhere between a hiss and a growl, she responded. “I don’t know… there’s so many things I do that I can’t explain. I guess I like feeling totally in control of something for once.” Adora sat there silently for a minute, trying to think of what to do or say to help. With a shuddering sigh, she looked up, locking her icy blue eyes onto Catra’s gold and blue ones and said, “I’m just worried about you. I don’t like watching you slowly kill yourself.” The princess of power was ironically feeling completely powerless as her vision started to blur with tears and the brunette in front of her began crying as well not long after. Catra rasped out between sobs, “I... want to... d-die...” The very next moment, she found herself in She-Ra’s strong arms and they sat there crying into each other’s embrace. “Everything is just so painful...” the magicat hiccuped into soft blonde hair. As Adora rubbed small circles over Catra’s back, she replied with a soothing voice “I know. It was hard for me to forgive myself too after defecting from the Horde, but I made a promise to you. I will always be here for you and that will never change.”  
  
Once the two girls had finished their crying session on the floor, Catra finally took a shaky deep breath and looked up at Adora’s face with determined expression. Her clawed hand tentatively picked up the fork, speared a bite of the food onto it and brought it halfway to her still closed mouth. The utensil hovered where Catra held it for a solid minute before tears threatened to fall once more and she made a choking noise as she whispered, “I can’t do it.” She placed the silverware back onto the tray, but Adora had picked it right up again and brought it directly in front of the brunette’s face. “Yes you can,” she coaxed her into taking a bite and Catra hesitantly opened her mouth to let the taller girl feed it to her. She closed her mismatched eyes, scrunched up her face, chewed robotically, and made a tight fist when she swallowed her first bite. Adora beamed down at Catra and praised her for being able to eat some. A furious blush could just barely be seen on her furred face and she lowered her ears as she scoffed, “I’m only doing this for your sake. Please don’t make a big deal out of it.” The magicat made a move to get out of her friend’s lap and went back to sitting on the other side of the tray of food. “The meal would be more enticing if it were hot, I’m sure. Let me go reheat it for you. I’ll be right back,” She-Ra said as she stood and grabbed the plate. “Wait,” Catra called out, “let me go with you. I think it would be good to get out of this room for a little while.” Adora just smiled slightly, switched back to her normal form, and the two made their way to the door.  
  
After arriving in the ship’s galley and setting down the now-warmed food in front of Catra, Adora sat down next to her and took the other girl’s fuzzy hand into her own, guiding it to the utensils and wrapping it around one of them. Catra’s tail puffed out at the contact for a split second before she calmed down and took a purposeful breath. Gathering up another small bite of food and all of her courage, she continued to eat in the same stiff manner as before. As she ate, Adora stayed with her and they made small talk which seemed to put Catra at ease somewhat as her movements became slightly less strained. Catra had finished a bit over half her rations when she felt the nausea kick in. “I think I’m done for now,” she said as she put her utensils down and went to stand up (slowly, so as not to become light-headed and pass out) and made her way to the sink to clean up. Adora remained seated and watched as her friend methodically scraped the leftover rations into the wastebin and began to wash the dishes. Once she was done, Catra sheepishly looked up at Adora and sighed heavily, “I know I have no room to be making requests, but would you be willing to have meals with me until I can get back to eating normally again?” Adora seemed touched and affirmed that she would do so happily.


End file.
